1/9/15 January backcountry fishing in Islamorada

Up until just a couple days ago we were having early spring-time like weather.  Highs in the low 80s with warm water temperature to boot.  It's thrown off a little bit of our traditional winter time fishing though in it's place we've had some good tarpon, shark, and other big critters to fill in the gap.  I had several good days with tarpon action as well as large blacktip sharks.  Most fish were in the 80 to 150 lb range, big winter time girls.  That fishing was very good on the start of the incoming tides, likely with warmer cleaner water pushing in from the gulf of mexico.  Large schools of gigantic black mullet were all over the place, very easy to catch and great bait for big critters.  Capt. Skip Nielsen had some great tarpon action during that period as well in the everglades backcountry of islamorada.  Of course a few days ago things cooled back down we had a pretty good front, however today already it's close to 80 degrees out and things look to be warming back up for a little while anyways.  The tarpon have slown down a little bit now, but if the water temperatures get back in the high 70s they may get very happy again.  Also strong indications we may have an early start to the season in February if weather patterns continue like this.  In the gulf the spanish mackerel have been very consistent both on the incoming and outgoing tides.  This is great action and there are plenty of snapper, ladyfish, and other guys to keep the rods bent.  A few cobias and tripletail have been found further out in the gulf as well.  The patch reefs have been very good too.  We did that today and had great action with porgy, hogfish, snapper, and mackerel.  Capt. Bill Bassett reported the day before the front catching a lot of hogfish he said they lost count - pretty cool!  The rest of the backcountry has been decent fishing with redfish, snook, black drum, and sheepshead.  This cooler weather should actually help that fishery out.  With it being warmer those fish are often just much more spread out so it requires patience and the ability to thourghly work areas to be productive.  Actually when things were very warm there was some good opportunities for sight fishing redfish and snook laying in the potholes with the lighter southeasterly breezes.  Anyways just about anything can happen down here, and it sure beats shoveling snow every day.  Give us a call if your wanting to get down here for some excellent islamorada fishing in january.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk